Sydney, Oct 23 (ANI): Australia's strapping all-rounder Andrew Symonds fell for a golden duck as Queensland were beaten by Victoria in the Sheffield Shield clash at the Gabba.

The Bulls were bowled out for just 150 in their second innings with left-arm destroyer Dirk Nannes taking career-best figures of 7-50.

Victoria (1-45) polished off the 43-run victory target in the 12th over and tasted a nine-wicket victory.

There was a long string of failures in the Bulls batting lineup including Symonds who got a leading edge on his first ball at the crease, snapped up at gully by Damien Wright off the bowling of Nannes.

Symonds' first-ball dismissal was the last thing he needed as debate rages over whether he should be called up for Australia's tour of India. That seems extremely unlikely now.

Victorian paceman Shane Harwood is sure to have raised the ire of the Queenslanders when he went down in a mock machine-gunning motion when he had Ashley Noffke (6) caught at leg gully.

Many of Harwood's teammates pretended to fall over as they celebrated the wicket and rubbed salt into Queensland's wounds.

New Bulls skipper Chris Simpson (5) failed again although he was clearly unlucky to be judged caught behind off a Nannes delivery, which missed the bat. (ANI)

Karachi, Oct 23 (ANI): A couple of days after new PCB chief Ijaz Butt had described the national team coach Geoff Lawson as "useless", former Pakistan cricketers Imran Khan and Javed Miandad have defended him, saying the Australian was not the only one responsible for the team's poor performances.

"How can you blame the coach for Pakistan cricket's ills when your domestic structure is stagnant," Khan said.

Imran Khan said Pakistan needed to improve its domestic cricket structure. "Don't expect miracles from the coach. If a coach could produce results without a proper domestic system then Bangladesh had the best coach (Dav Whatmore) and they should have been world champions," Khan said.

Lawson, a former Australian Test pacer, was appointed coach in July 2007 after the death of Bob Woolmer during the World Cup. He has not commented on Butt's remarks. Butt had said that Lawson's coach would not be renewed once it expires in July.

Miandad said Lawson was not the only one who should be blamed for the inconsistent performances of the team. "It is not just an issue of coaching. Lawson should not be blamed solely. The players should also take responsibility and I think they should be held accountable as well," The News quoted Miandad as saying.

Miandad pointed to a lack of Test cricket as one cause of Pakistan's unsatisfactory performances. Foreign teams have been anxious about travelling to the country because of security concerns. "I think the former board management is also responsible for this as they were least interested and did not care at all for this," he said.

Khan and Miandad are regarded as Pakistan's greatest cricketers and spearheaded the team that won the 1992 World Cup. (ANI)

London, Oct 23 (ANI): England's middle order Batsman Ian Bell has insisted that reclaiming the Ashes next summer means more than becoming one of England's million dollar men.

The batsman has the chance to win previously unimagined riches when England takes on the Stanford Superstars in Antigua on November 1. He hopes to get his hands on 570,000 pound in the winner-takes-all match.

But Bell is adamant that a repeat of 2005 Ashes triumph when the Australians visit next summer would have far greater meaning than any cash windfall in the Caribbean.

"It's really exciting to be given the chance to win this money but, as a team, we'd much prefer to win the Ashes next year. That might sound silly because the amount is so big but the Ashes is the bigger picture for us. The rewards for winning an Ashes series are not just financial," Bell claimed.

"I know winning the Ashes in England is the best time you can have as a cricketer. Everyone remembers it for a long time - a lot longer than winning some money," he added.

"There's already momentum building under Kevin Pietersen's captaincy. By the time we reach Ashes, we'll have a good idea of how good the team is," Bell said.

Bell will open the batting with wicketkeeper Matt Prior in Antigua and is expected to get England off to a flying start, The Sun reported.

That means playing big shots early on rather than just accumulating with textbook strokes. (ANI)

Sydney, Oct 23 (ANI): After suffering a crushing defeat by 320 runs against India in Mohali earlier this week, Australian vice-captain Michael Clarke has rejected the suggestion India's recent dominance and confrontational style had ushered in a new world order in the game.

"I would disagree with that. It's not the first Test match I have lost, and I guarantee it won't be the last, but I know our mindset will be exactly the same as it was at the start of this game. We're going into Delhi to win the Test match," he said.

"After the first Test when we had a draw, I remember getting on the bus and 'Punter' [Ricky Ponting] said to Peter Siddle, 'Mate you won't see too many results like that in this team.' It is so true. We win. We want to win every game we play. We are going to do everything in our power to make sure this Test in Delhi, we win. But we need to control the little things first," the Sydney Morning Herald quoted him as saying in an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald.

Clarke said this was not a sign that India, already a financial colossus, had changed the balance of power on the field as well.

Clarke, who will take a brief holiday with his fiancee Lara Bingle before the squad comes together again in the Capital on Sunday, claimed the Indians' "bullish approach and willingness to take the Australians on verbally had not affected the visitors".

Clarke and Gautam Gambhir held an extended exchange during the Australian's innings of 69 in the second innings, and provocative pace bowler Zaheer Khan was fined 80 per cent of his match fee for giving Matthew Hayden a verbal send-off when he fell to Harbhajan Singh.

"I don't even know if he knows exactly what was said by Zaheer Khan when he got out but it was some form of send-off," Clarke said and added: "Honestly, that sort of stuff doesn't really bother me. Even with Gambhir, he was trying to talk and I said, 'Mate, I'm not even listening to you, so whatever you're saying you might as well talk to Dhoni because you're honestly wasting your breath talking to me.' The way they have bowled certainly has had an impact on our team. What they have done is bowl really well with reverse swing. They know their conditions brilliantly." (ANI)